How we check

Sea monster stories are full of confident claims. This channel's rule is simple: say how we know what we know, and say it out loud when we don't.

The four tags

Every claim in a video carries one of these in the corner of the screen, and on its case file here:

• CONFIRMED Backed by a primary source or a scientific paper
• REPORTED A real historical account that can't be checked
• DISPUTED Sources disagree
• RECREATION Our own illustration of a real event, not real footage

Sources

We go back to the oldest source we can find: the 1755 printing, the ship captain's own report, the scientific paper. Wikipedia is a place to start looking, not a source we rely on by itself. When later books disagree with the original, we say so and show which one we trust.

Recreations

When we can't show real footage or photos, we draw the event instead. Our drawings are stylised on purpose, so nobody mistakes them for the real thing, and they always carry the RECREATION tag. The originals are linked on each case file.

Corrections

Mistakes happen. Each case file keeps a dated corrections log, and fixes are never quietly edited away.